I stayed put and waited until Coach Florence approached me with Arthur.

"Arthur has something he would like to say to you," Coach Florence said.

"Hey, Rollie, I'm sorry I threw a fire bolt at you. It was rude of me, and it won't happen again." Arthur sighed.

Coach Florence put her hands on her hips. "I absolutely believe your apology, and I know it won't happen again because the next match, Arthur, you will sit out while Rollie will take your spot as the backup thief. You have officially been downgraded to the third string."

"What!" Arthur stomped. "Don't you think that's going a bit too far?"

"Well, Rollie beat you in a race, and you handled your emotions like a child. You negatively impact the entire team if you can't keep a cool head in a match. So yes, this is the wisest decision." Coach Florence folded her arms.

Arthur was stunned. He stood there trying to think of something to say, but his lips sputtered. "I think I'm going to sit this practice out. I'm not feeling too well."

"I think that's a good idea," Coach Florence said.

Arthur turned around, got back on his bike, and flew it inside the field house.

Coach Florence turned to me. "Now, we need to get you up to speed this week so you can be prepared for the Venomaus matchup this Saturday. One of our best players, Lucas, is still out sick. So chances are good that even though you're on the bench as our second-string thief, you will likely have to play if our current thief gets knocked out. Do you think you'd be comfortable with something like that?"

"Absolutely. Performing under pressure is my middle name," I said, trying to sound cool.

Coach Florence chuckled. "That's an awfully long middle name, but I get the joke. Wonderful. I will work with you closely on drills today, and we'll see how you do."

I worked with Coach Florence, Linda, and Laura for the rest of the practice. We reviewed the team's strategy they employed depending on the situation on the field. It was consistent throughout. We had a set amount of defenders and a set amount of people devoted to throwing fire bolts at the opposing team. Then when a path was opened up, the thief could go through the pockets and snag a trophy at the other end. I ran through the drills, flying as fast as possible, dodging the fire bolts that Linda and Laura threw. Then I would go into the end zone and take a trophy, dodging more fire bolts as I went along. I had the time of my life, and the practice was over before I knew it. I was still practicing drills while everyone else was being dismissed.

"Rollie! You can stop now. Practice has been over for a few minutes already. We're all going back to our dorms now!" Linda yelled as I was in the middle of spinning around with the dragon bike and snatching a trophy off a pedestal.

I stopped flying, finally mastering the braking system on the dragon bike. "Thank you. I guess I got a little carried away there." I smiled at Linda, who seemed to find my over-excitement humorous and charming.

On my way back to the dorm from the train depot, Tim came up to me. "Hey man, I saw you practice today. You were amazing out there. I had no idea you had so much ability on the dragon bike."

I shrugged. "I guess I had enough years of practice back in my home world."

"Wow, that's really cool. But hey, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. And I also wanted to thank you for beating Arthur in a race earlier. That was hilarious." Tim patted me on the shoulder, but I didn't react.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I wanted to cut right to the chase and not have to talk to him any longer than I had to.

"Oh, well. It was just an idea. I saw that letter you pulled out in front of Arthur earlier, and I was just curious about it. Was that really an invite to play with the Fyron Dragonstryke team?"

"You saw the letter. What do you think?"

"I, uh, don't really know. It was weird. It didn't seem like an invite to play for the Dragonstryke team. I kept thinking about it, though. Who gave you that letter?"

"Why? Do you know anything about it?"

"No. But you should talk to someone about it. Maybe Professor Shia? I don't know, man. With the hellion attack on campus and the graffiti on the rec hall... then you get a mysterious letter like that. Something weird is going on. I can just feel it."

I shook my head. "Maybe I will mention it to professor Shia. Thanks for the idea."

Back at the dormitory, I went to the front desk, but Farrah wasn't working, but I saw her in the lounge at a table with two of her friends. Each of them had a mug of a hot beverage in their hand. The idea of approaching their table made my heart race, but I had just champed my first Dragonstryke practice. I could do anything. I was on top of the world.

Going up to their table, Farrah noticed me first and beamed. "Rollie! How did your first Dragonstryke practice go?"

"It went amazing, actually. I beat Arthur in that race, and I'll be the second string thief for this Saturday's match against Venomaus," I said.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Farrah's two friends arched their brows. But Farrah gave me a little applause. "Oh my gosh! That's so amazing! Congratulations! I'm so proud of you. I can't wait to cheer you on for this Saturday."

"Yeah, I'm really excited. It will be a long week of practice, but it should be fun."

"Wait, so you beat Arthur in a race at practice?" her friend clarified. The same one who witnessed me getting made fun of by Arthur at dinner over a week ago.

"Yeah. Honestly, from all my years of riding dirt bikes, I felt it helped out a lot. Maybe Arthur should try dirt biking after all," I said. "See you all later." I walked away, feeling on top of the world.

The week breezed by. In between my classes and whenever I had a free moment to think, I spent it thinking about Farrah. I wanted to make time for her during the week, but when I ate dinner, went to practice, and studied in the lounge, I had no time to hang out with her. During breakfast and dinner, I made myself comfortable with Boris and Chris. Any other table would have felt like a foreign land. I knew I could have sat with Farrah during my meals, but she was with her friends, and Arthur was always there. I daydreamed about sitting down at their table after beating Arthur in practice, but I didn't find Arthur worth my time and effort.

Saturday came, and I was fired up. I jumped out of bed and left the suite before my roommates came out. Going to the dining hall, I chowed on a meal of eggs, hashbrowns, fruit, and toast and raced to the train station. It was crowded and filled with violet and scarlet cloaks, but I found the cart with all my other teammates, and I jumped on. My team was chatting to themselves, but I had hardly talked to the second-string or first-string players, so I didn't have anything to say to them. I was primarily coached by Linda, Laura, Richmond, and Coach Florence during practice throughout the week. They probably wondered who the weirdo was with the hairdo, but they didn't gawk at me like others. Perhaps they were used to my appearance.

Getting to the field house, we walked alongside Venomaus. No trash talk was exchanged, which I was disappointed by, but since the coaches were around, it was best to keep things civil.

"Don't get used to these walks being like this. When we go against the Glaciens and Aquasos, we walk to the field house at different times. Yeah, it's that bad," Richmond said as we walked to the field house. Inside, he showed me down the Fyron hall, and they had a locker for me. "But I'll have to use my arcane magic on it until you can open it yourself."

As we got on our bikes and floated above the ground, instead of going back out through the front entrance like we usually did for practice, the back doors parted open. We took a leisurely cruise out through a tunnel. The tunnel was lit with white flamed torches which were amazing to look at. I'd never seen anything like it. In between the white-flamed torches were purple and red flames on some of them.

We took the tunnel through to the end and came out to a stadium booming with applause, cheers, and whistles. My heart began pumping. I'd never seen so many people watch something I was doing. It felt like I was under a microscope, but I'm sure none of them could even see my smile, but they probably noticed my mohawk. I followed my teammates as they floated to our section and parked their dragon bikes on top of a flat platform raised high above the ground. In the back of the platform was a riser with Coach Florence sitting on top of it, waving us in.

"Greetings, everyone!" a voice shouted from the loudspeaker. "Welcome to another glorious Saturday of Dragonstryke! With a bout between the Fyrons and the Venomaus!"

I was amazed at how well I could hear the announcement from the field. I stared forward at the crowd of people, a sea of mostly red and purple cloaks but plenty of others were there to watch. The cavern was alive and thundering.

Coach Florence hollered behind us, and the team turned around, got off their bikes, and ran up to her.

"Just so all of you know, our second string thief today is Rollie Magpie. Now let's talk business. Venomaus wasn't that great last year, and they won't be that good this year since they're already a one-loss team. But don't let that fool you. The betting favorite doesn't always come out on top in Dragonstryke. Stay focused. While this team might be an easy opponent, there are no guarantees. We have to play hard and smart to come away with this one. They have a fourth-year player on their team. His name is Milo. He was pretty decent last year, but he's their star player this year, and I was really impressed by him. We're fortunate enough to have our team dynamic to put the pressure on and defend. So bolters, if you see Milo, target him, But don't get hung up on getting him out. He's got great flying skills, and he'll be dodging all of you, possibly for the entire game. So again, try to bolt him, but don't get hung up on it! Now let's go out there and play a good game. Hands in the circle. Richmond, take it away!"

All of us put our hands in the center together.

"I know we'll give them a fight. We're 1-0, so let's keep the streak going. And let's win this one for Lucas. He needs something to smile about. Fyrons on three! One, two, three!"

"Fyrons!" we all yelled.

The starters ran to their dragon bikes and flew toward the field. Venomaus, on the other side, also flew in simultaneously. A bell chimed, and the crowd roared and cheered.

More than half of the Venomaus came into our territory and tried to get three people in our endzone.

Bold move, I thought.

But Linda, our goalkeeper, torched all three people flying in. They didn't even try to dodge Linda's fire bolts. They just flew faster and closer to the trophies. I would never have done that. There needs to be some level of finesse and dodging ability. Quick turns, misdirection, flips, or barrel rolls, try anything other than speeding closer to the trophies.

They lost those players for the rest of the game, but the other players on Venomaus didn't mind.

"Milo! Milo! You gotta pay attention! He's coming through! Push back! Push back!" Coach Florence yelled.

I don't think anyone on the field could hear Coach. They were too far away. Richmond caught on, though, and focused on Milo, trying to throw a few fire bolts at him, but Milo spun left and right and spiraled to dodge them all. It was like he had eyes in the back of his head. Though Milo had really long hair, even with eyes behind his head, there was no way Milo could see through those luscious locks. As Milo glided through the hair, he hurled a few poison bolts, hitting two of our players. They weren't out yet, but Milo wasn't done. He went through the end zone, avoided Linda's fire bolts, swiped a trophy off the pedestal, and kicked his dragon bike into gear. Milo was gone without a trace. I watched him fly down the field until he returned to his end zone, dodging a swarm of fire bolts along the way. A graceful and skillful flyer. But during that run, our players knocked out two other Venomaus starters with six fire bolts. They took the punches for Milo, and it worked in their favor enough to make the score 4-2.

Our starting thief, Gregory, bulleted down the field after they celebrated their trophy steal, and he entered the Venomaus endzone. Gregory didn't have to dodge the poisonous bolts shot his way because they were so inaccurate. A steady flight was all he needed, but once he got inside their endzone, the trophy keeper blasted him with two bolts. Still, Gregory managed to take one of the trophies. On his way back to our side, Milo tailed behind him and threw a few close poison bolts that went by his ear, over the top of his head just an inch; and then Gregory strafed to the right to miss the other at the last second.

I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to see what would happen next.